Trump Team Cries Foul After Robert Mueller Obtains Thousands of Trump Transition Emails

FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller came under fire from the Trump administration after his team obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, particularly those of senior advisor Jared Kushner — a move administration officials claim is illegal.

Axios reported that officials discovered Mueller was in possession of the emails when prosecutors used them to question witnesses. The emails include 12 accounts, and thousands of emails.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, including emails of Jared Kushner, transition team sources told Axios.

The emails were obtained from the General Services Administration, the agency that hosted the Trump transition’s email system. It is unclear to what extent transition emails can give insight into alleged Russian interference in the election. According to Axios:

The transition emails are said to include sensitive exchanges on matters that include potential appointments, gossip about the views of particular senators involved in the confirmation process, speculation about vulnerabilities of Trump nominees, strategizing about press statements, and policy planning on everything from war to taxes.

The Trump team has claimed that taking the emails was unlawful and a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, and have requested Mueller return the emails.

“Not looking good. It’s not looking good. It’s quite sad to see that,” Trump said Sunday when asked about the development. “My people are very upset about it. I can’t imagine there’s anything on ’em, frankly, because as we said, there’s no collusion. There’s no collusion whatsoever. A lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad.”

It is far from clear what Mueller is looking for, although a transition source told Axios he is looking for new leads. The inclusion of Kushner’s emails suggests it may be a broader look at Kushner’s meetings with foreign officials during the transition.

Mueller is also believed to be probing Kushner’s meeting with a Russian banker during the transition, one meeting out of 100 that Kushner left off his initial security clearance declaration. Kushner’s team blamed the omission on an administrative error but has continued to come under congressional scrutiny over accusations over a lack of transparency.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.